Previewing the Last Individual Weekend in Golf

The second biggest golf tournament in the State of Georgia has finally arrived; The FedEx Cup Playoff finale better known as The Tour Championship will begin tomorrow with 30 Golfers and end this Sunday where the winner will receive a measly $10M payout.

It has been a great year of golf highlighted by Brooks Koepka’s 2 major wins putting himself atop the ‘Player of the Year’ conversation. There has been many great storylines throughout the season, but of course none bigger than the unofficial yet very real return of Tiger Woods. Tiger’s world ranking has improved dramatically this year with his exiciting play and his many Top 10 finishes including a Runner-Up finish at the PGA Championship. Its great to see the crowd roars link up with Tigers fist pumps again.

The Golf Scientist, Bryson Dechambeau has also had impressive year winning 3 times including the first two legs of the FedEx cup playoff. His recent play has also put him in the discussion for player of the year, although unlikely to win in my opinion.

The tournament is being played at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, GA, the 11th year that East Lake will host the final tournament. The course is fairly scoreable although pretty long at 7,385 yards. Players will be forced to keep those tee shots accurate as the narrow fairways could get you in trouble quick. If golfers remain accurate they should have no problem going low here.

Of course given the playoff format in which the palyers acrue points throughout the season, there are a variety of different scenarios that could take place. To keep it simple I will go over the 5 players that only need to focus on themselves. That means, if they win this one, the win the Tour Championship

Bryson Dechambeu

—The Golf Nerd, the Scientist, whatever you want to call him , it has been working.Putting himself in contention for player of the year, semmingly only rivaled by Brooks Koepka, 2017/18 has been a great year from Bryson. He comes into the final leg of the FedEx cup in the lead having won the first two. He obviously has to do the ‘least’ to win, but that doesnt mean it is easy.

Justin Rose

—Ol’ Reliable as I just crowned him. I mean Rose has been in the mix basically every tournament. Every single weekend he plays his name is up there. As the new number 1 golfer in the world, Justin Rose has to be going into this weekend as the most confident. Play his game finish up at the top and he has a very good chance of walking away with $10M in his pocket

Tony Finau

—This is an interesting one. Tony Finau, who also happens to be the cousin of the newest Chicago Bull Jabari Parker, has had a very Justin Rose type of year. He has consistently had his name up at the top of the leaderboard week in and week out. He even was in the mix after celebrating at the Masters Par 3 Contest and tore his ankle to pieces. The interesting thing about Tony is he hasn’t won once on tour. That goes to show just how consistent he is. He just needs to catch his big break and finsih on top, this weekend could very well be his turn.

WARNING: Graphic

Dustin Johnson

—The man who has held the #1 spot for the better part of the last 2 years certainly could win as well. He has looked good all year, narrowingly missing his US Open victory as he crumbled under the pressure the last two weeks. Nothing really seems to affect Dustin, good or bad, but with Paulina deleting all pictures of him on Instagram, there could be some emotion out of Dusitn we haven’t seen yet. The only question is will it help or hurt him.

Justin Thomas

—I really don’t know how I feel about Justin, sometimes I like him, sometimes I think he is a total dweeb. No one can deny though just how talented the 24 year old is. He has seen his share of the #1 world ranking this year as well and of course has continually played atop the leaderboard as shown by his FedEx Rankings. I wouldn’t mind a Justin win, but he wouldnt be my first choice.

Other Players to Watch

Rickie Fowler

—I need him to get that Major. I know this isnt a major obviously but I feel like if he wins one big one, he can win them all. There is a lot that needs to happen for this as well, but wouldnt it be awesome?

Phil Mickelson

—Lefty still hanging around, although not a likely contender, it will be interesting to see how the old man competes with the young guns.

Patrick Reed

—I hope he does terrible, can’t stand Patrick Reed. I hope he does terrible, then the PGA doen’t buy him tickets to next years baseball game.

—Since taking over the coveted top golfer in the world, Jason Day hasn’t done much. He has played better this year winning 2 times this year, but another player where I dont see it happening.

Rory McIlroy

—I like Rory, but seriously how is he still in this thing let alone, the #5 ranked player in the world. It just doesn’t make sense to me. I hope he does well, but I don’t see it.

Lastly, Tiger Woods of course.

—No one has had more suppoer this year than Tiger. Go anywhere on the golf course and he has a sea of people behind him, its actually crazy to see. Coming off his invitation to the Ryder Cup, Tiger is feeling confident and although he needs some help, I wouldn’t put anything past the Tiger magic. There is literlly a possibility for every player to win, thats why they have narrowed it down thirty. I won’t post how players could win, but due to the assumed demand (of which there is none becuase this site has no fans….yet) I will post how Tiger can add $10M of chump change to his $740M net worth.

For Tiger to win he would need:

-Bryson Dechambeau to finish T15 or worse

-Justin Rose finishes in a 3 way tie for 5th or worse

-Tony Finau finishes T3 or worse

-Dustin Johnson/Justin Thomas both finish in a 3 way for 2nd or worse

-Keegan Bradley finishes T2 or worse

Its very unlikely, but lets pray for the above scenario.

No matter who wins, this is promising to be a very exciting weekend of golf and a good end to the PGA Tour, of course before we head into the very exciting Ryder Cup and then the never before seen 1 on 1 matchup between Tiger and Phil. Let’s not get ahead of myself though Tj, lets focus on this one first.

My prediction: Is the ‘easy’ pick, but its easy for a reason. It’s Justin Rose and although its not the cool pick, its who I truly think will win.